Lufthansa

Lufthansa, the German state airline, operates the advanced Messerschmitt 9-E rocket service that connects Berlin to San Francisco, a forty-five-minute flight that symbolizes the technological and imperial reach of the Nazi Reich. The airline is a fixture of the novel's world, carrying passengers like the Swedish industrialist Mr. Baynes and the artist Alex Lotze, and its flights are a routine but awe-inspiring presence in the skies over the Pacific States of America.

Operations and Technology

Lufthansa's rocket ships are the pinnacle of German engineering, capable of crossing the Atlantic in under an hour. The Messerschmitt 9-E, which Mr. Baynes takes from Tempelhof Airport in Berlin to San Francisco, is described as a "high-place new German rocket" that makes the journey in just forty-five minutes. The rocket's descent is a dramatic event: the loudspeaker announces the approach in German, Japanese, and English, and the retro-jets shake the ship violently as it begins its slow descent. The airline's service is a marker of status and modernity, and its flights are a common sight in the skies above Canon City, Colorado, where Juliana Frink watches a rocket ship shoot in an arc toward the coast. The airline also delivers the morning newspaper, the Frankfurter Zeitung, to the German Consulate in San Francisco, a daily ritual that keeps Consul Hugo Reiss informed of events in the Reich.

Economic and Political Significance

Lufthansa is more than a transportation service; it is a symbol of German economic and technological dominance. The airline's rocket ships are part of a broader German effort to colonize space, a project that the Japanese have not matched. The novel notes that the Pacific States have nothing comparable to the German interplanetary rockets, which consist mainly of heat-resistant plastics, very light in weight, and so hard that they survive even major meteor impact. The German chemical cartels, particularly I.G. Farben, have created a world monopoly in plastics, and Lufthansa's rockets are a visible manifestation of this technological edge. The airline also serves as a conduit for political intrigue: Mr. Baynes, who is actually Captain Rudolf Wegener of the Abwehr, uses Lufthansa to travel to San Francisco for a secret meeting with Japanese officials, and the SD chief Bruno Kreuz vom Meere monitors Lufthansa flights to track Wegener's movements.

Cultural and Social Impact

Lufthansa's presence in the Pacific States is a constant reminder of German power and the Axis victory. The airline's rocket ships are a source of wonder and anxiety for the characters. Juliana Frink, watching a rocket ship fly overhead, reflects on the Nazi colonization of space and the "big shots" aboard. The airline's service also reinforces the racial hierarchy of the Nazi world: the novel notes that German or South ships dock at the port of San Francisco, and slaves are occasionally allowed off for short intervals. Lufthansa's flights are a symbol of the "nobility" that Robert Childan admires in the Nazis, a quality he contrasts with the "Orientals" who rule the Pacific States. The airline's rockets are also a source of humor: Bob Hope jokes about Martians who cannot provide racial documentation, and the novel suggests that the Nazis' cosmic ambitions are a form of madness, a "frenzied and demented" plan to conquer the planets.

Narrative Role

Lufthansa serves as a narrative device that connects the novel's various settings and characters. It brings Mr. Baynes to San Francisco, where he meets Mr. Tagomi and General Tedeki, and it carries Captain Wegener back to Berlin at the novel's end. The airline's flights are a backdrop to the political intrigue and personal dramas of the story, and its rockets are a symbol of the Nazi regime's technological prowess and its ultimate threat to the world. The novel's final chapter, in which Wegener returns to Berlin aboard a Lufthansa rocket, underscores the airline's role as a conduit for the forces that will determine the fate of the world.